Tech move: ACB replaces scorer with assistant coach

Sydney: The Australian cricket team will do away with the position of scorer later this year as a result of technology and coaching advances. The Australian Cricket Board said on Tuesday that it would replace the scorer with an assistant coach.

The new job will involve performance analysis, using the digital video technology now used throughout top-class cricket. Mike Walsh, who was the first scorer with the national team on the 1989 Ashes team and had a full-time role since 1997, will lose his post because of the restructuring. "The Australian team has been well serviced in this area in the past, but we believe closer focus on the technical component of elite performance will complement the existing coaching structure," ACB chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement on Tuesday. Walsh's role on the team's support staff will end in September at the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, where the new coach will also join the team. The ACB wants the new person to have elite coaching experience. The new team support staff will be John Buchanan (coach), Steve Bernard (team manager), Errol Alcott (physiotherapist), Jock Campbell (physical performance manager) and the new assistant.